Moving into your first apartment in college is quite a big girl step for all of us collegiettes. Carefully selecting the perfect throw pillows for the living room and comforter for the bedroom is one of the most exciting tasks, but the poor kitchen is often overlooked. Stocking your kitchen full of useful gadgets and tools is a crucial part of making your apartment functional as well as homey. Here are seven must-have accessories every collegiette needs in her kitchen!
1. Crockpot:
If owning one of these babies makes you feel like a middle-aged soccer mom, so be it. They are major lifesavers for all you collegiettes with busy schedules. Simply put all the ingredients in the crockpot, turn it on and let it cook all day. There’s nothing better than having a delicious dinner ready for you to eat after you’ve been in class, meetings, and work all day.
If you’re new to the crockpot scene, head over to Pinterest and try out some of the recipes, like this Garlic Chicken Alfredo. You can find a quality crockpot for about $30 and it’s a great investment.
2. Grater:
This kitchen tool is inexpensive, but super handy. Skip the prepackaged stuff, and grate your own cheese for omelets, quesadillas, and more. You can also grate veggies like zuchinni or squash and throw it into a lasagna for a subtle dose of veggies. Even keep a few cinnamon sticks on hand for freshly grated cinnamon on your coffee or oatmeal. There are so many things you can do with a grater and you can find one for as little as $5.
3. Coffee maker:
Need I say more? Every college apartment should have one and that’s that. Even if you’re not a huge coffee drinker (is that possible?), it never hurts to keep an inexpensive coffee maker like this one around for exam week or if you’re having guests over that don’t joke around about their morning coffee.
If you’re a coffee enthusiast, try investing in a coffee bean grinder like this one for coffeehouse-fresh coffee without leaving your apartment.
4. Electric hand mixer:
It might not be ideal to go out and purchase a top-of-the-line $300 mixer, however, you can make do (in most cases) with a simple electric hand mixer. You can find them for as little as $10 at Wal-Mart.
5. Baking dish:
You don’t know the need for a casserole-baking dish until you attempt to make brownies in a meatloaf dish…. Casserole baking dishes are excellent to have for baking nearly anything from cakes to lasagna. You can often find a set of glass baking dishes at an affordable price – look for the ones that come with lids for easy transportation or storage in the refrigerator.
6. Corkscrew bottle opener:
Although any determined college student can get a bottle of wine or beer open without any kitchen tools, it doesn’t hurt to keep this corkscrew bottle opener on hand. It’s great because it’s dual-functioning and can open a wine bottle or a beer bottle. This one is only about $2.
7. Cooling rack:
If you’re a hardcore baker, you need one (or two) of these to really perfect your baked goods. You can find one between $5 and $10.
Having these seven gadgets can make your cooking experience better and easier! As the semester winds down and end of the year parties and pot lucks are in full swing, you’ll be thankful to have these tools on hand.